


Whack-a-Mole

by wayby



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 01:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4503132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayby/pseuds/wayby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He watched as Cute Guy went over to the whack-a-mole machine, and inserted a token. He couldn't help but be mesmerized by the guy's accuracy with the giant rubber hammer.<br/>That was, until he got a little too excited and began absolutely wailing on the moles with all of his strength.</p>
<p>(Or, Gerard breaks the whack-a-mole machine at the Chuck E. Cheese that Frank works at.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whack-a-Mole

**Author's Note:**

> I'm tired

Today's pee stain on the floor was shaped like a heart. How sweet, Frank thought as he sighed and went to grab the cleaning supplies from the supply closet. He wasn't entirely sure why he applied for a job at Chuck E. Cheese, seeing as there were much quieter and cleaner shitty jobs that also paid nothing right at his fingertips. He'd say it was for the free pizza, but he knew better than to consume the fake plastic monstrosity that caused many cases of food poisoning in toddlers.

Speaking of the toddlers, they always managed to pee on the carpet, and Frank was the one who always found the stains, which meant he was the one who had to clean them up. He was also the employee that his coworkers would send when a kid threw up in the tube-hell that was the play place, since he was as small as some of the kids even at the age of 19.

After cleaning up the stain, he went back to his spot behind the prize counter to survey the area. Luckily for him, the place wasn't too crowded so he had some breathing room in between kids coming up to him to cash in their tickets. The prize counter was probably why he took the job, if he were honest. He was a kid once, he knew how much it meant when an adult was nice. So he'd always let kids have the prizes they wanted even if they were a few tickets short, and had a collection of spare tickets under the counter to sneak into their pile so they'd have extra tickets. It made the kids happy and the parents thankful and his job a lot easier.

Scanning the room for a disaster to clean up, he came across a man about his age playing an arcade game. The guy, even from afar, looked really pretty, in a funky way. His long black hair was swallowing his face like it had a mind of its own and he was wearing a sweatshirt and ...pajama pants? Yes, those were batman pajama pants. To the untrained eye he'd look like a creepy homeless guy, but his face had nice soft features and a tiny nose, and he managed to pull off the disheveled look in a way that awed Frank. What was amusing about the guy, though, is that he didn't look to be with any of the children running around. He had his own overflowing cup of tickets sitting next to him, and he was playing the game as if he was actually having fun.

Frank had to admit, it was adorable. He'd seen his fair share of bored college kids coming in to win prizes, but this guy was alone and having the time of his life. He was mashing the buttons with such glee that he resembled all the 5-year-olds running around him. Frank watched as a line of tickets began spilling out of the machine, and the guy picked them up with a huge grin. His cup was already overflowing, so Frank wondered how he'd shove his newly acquired tickets inside.

To his surprise, the guy looked at the children around him, and settled on a little girl that was crying. Frank watched in amazement as he walked over to the girl and offered her the tickets in his hand. The girl accepted the tickets and stopped crying, instead choosing to giggle up at him.

Frank kind of maybe wanted to marry him because that was the sweetest thing he'd ever seen.

He watched as Cute Guy went over to the whack-a-mole machine, and inserted a token. He couldn't help but be mesmerized by the guy's accuracy with the giant rubber hammer.

That was, until he got a little too excited and began absolutely wailing on the moles with all of his strength. The moles could take the strength of a child, but not necessarily that much force. Sure enough, one of the moles got jammed, and the machine stopped working with an awful grinding noise that Frank was all too used to. He would usually be frustrated at another machine being broken, but the guy looked so embarrassed and scared that he just smirked and rolled his eyes instead, and left his spot behind the counter.

The man was looking around worriedly for an employee, and his focus settled on Frank when he saw him walking toward the machine. As Frank suspected, the guy looked better up close. He had perfect pale skin and eyes that were some color Frank couldn't describe, and the expression of a kicked puppy that made Frank want to kiss off of his face.

"Hey, um...someone broke the game..." he said quietly, shuffling his feet and looking at the machine sadly. His voice was high and cute and fit him perfectly and Frank just wanted to hear his own name in that voice.

Frank smirked at him. "You mean  _you_ broke it? Maybe don't hit so hard next time." The guy's head whipped towards Frank, his face mortified and bright red.

"You saw that?!" He cried, throwing his hands onto his face. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I got too excited, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine, it can be fixed. Don't worry about it, man." Too cute. Too cute to handle.

The man took his hands from his face to reveal a relieved expression stained with a blush. "Sorry again. Thanks for not getting mad, um..."

"Frank," he said, pointing at his name tag.

"Thanks, Frank. My name's Gerard, by the way." Of course it was. Of course someone like him would be named Gerard. Frank couldn't think of a better name to suit this guy. "Sorry again."

"Dude, it's fine. Hey, I'll be right back, ok? I'll fix this thing," Frank said, using all of his strength to turn away from Gerard, who let out a little "ok", and make another trip to the supply closet.

Frank's glad he was trained to fix the machines, because he wouldn't have had the heart to tell Gerard that he ruined the game forever. He didn't realize until he tried to pull the handy dandy toolbox off the floor that his heart was beating out of his chest.

_Calm down_ , he thought, taking a deep breath. _He's way out of your league, and probably straight and taken and possibly a creep who lives under a bridge._ Still, he couldn't help but relish in the way his name sounded coming out of Gerard's mouth, and the redness that was probably permanently plastered onto his face after the whole ordeal.

He had been hoping Gerard would actually be waiting for him to come back, but didn't let himself get his hopes up and had told himself the guy was probably long gone. So he couldn't help but smile to himself when he walked out of the "employees only" door to find Gerard standing nervously next to the whack-a-mole machine. Waiting for him. Frank's stomach twisted a little at the thought, and he knew he hadn't eaten any death-pizza. God dammit, he had a crush on a guy he met at Chuck E. Cheese.

"I'm back," he announced as he approached Gerard. Gerard turned toward him and grinned at him. "Sorry for running off."

Gerard giggled, and Frank almost dropped the toolbox. "It's cool. I didn't want to hit and run."

Frank chuckled and mentally screamed because this guy was too much.

He unplugged the machine and got to work trying to pry the mole out of the hole it was wedged in. Gerard's presence next to him was too strong to try to ignore, so as much as he hated it, he had to make small talk with Gerard.

"So, I noticed that you were here alone." Time to slam his head on a hard surface because what kind of comment was that?

Luckily for him, Gerard just laughed. "Yeah, I know it seems creepy. There's a prize I want. The Batman plushie. I was driving by and saw a kid come out with one."

"Speaking of Batman, nice pants."

"They're not too dorky?"

"Nah, Batman's cool. And they look good on you." They'd look better on his floor.

Gerard mumbled a bashful "thanks" and shuffled slightly closer to Frank so he could watch.

They were silent for some time, and as nervous as it made Frank, he enjoyed having Gerard next to him. Even though they weren't touching, Gerard was close enough that Frank could tell he radiated heat. He found himself becoming more comfortable, and was able to more easily drown out the screaming kids behind him and just focus on fixing the machine as well as the sound of Gerard's breathing.

"You're good with your hands," Gerard blurted out, interrupting Frank's peaceful thoughts. Frank froze and looked up at Gerard, who looked back with a shocked expression.

"Oh my god, that's not, I meant-" he spluttered, turning red again. "I meant handiwork. I just. Holy shit-"

"You know you're cute, right?" Frank said, smirking when Gerard became even more flustered.

"I, um..."

"Anyway, I'm almost done. You just got the mole jammed," he grinned up at Gerard. "You ready to cash in your tickets, or were you planning on causing more destruction?"

Gerard giggled again, and Frank decided he could get used to the sound. "Nah, I'm done for today."

Frank laughed and directed Gerard to the prize counter, stepping over a new puddle of pee in the process.

"May I have your tickets, sir?" he smirked, earning another laugh from Gerard. He fed the tickets into the machine and looked back up to Gerard. "You have 1530 tickets, impressive. That's enough for a Batman plushie."

"I'll have one of those."

Frank thanked every higher entity he could think of that the plushie was on a shelf he could reach. He handed the plushie to Gerard, who accepted it with a squeal. "You still have 330 tickets left, is there anything else you want?"

Gerard leaned on the counter and smiled at Frank.

"Yeah," he said with a blush. "Can I get your number?"

 

 

 


End file.
